What Happens When Bobcats Attack

Bobcats aren't known for attacking humans — they almost always avoid contact with us — but that's no comfort to a Massachusetts resident who killed a bobcat with his shotgun after it attacked him in his garage. The wild feline jumped on Roger Mundell, began to bite his face, and dug its claws into his back before he used his jacket to throw the cat over his back. The animal managed to bite Mundell's 15-year-old nephew before his wife retrieved the family's shotgun. Mundell, bearing some insane lesions on his face, explaining the attack thusly: "It hit me with it's face right here. Then it gave me a bear hug.

Asthe Boston Globe points out, bobcat attacks aren't simply infrequent; they're extremely, extremely rare. And bobcats aren't known to contract the strain of rabies indigenous to New England, either. (Massachusetts Environmental Police is testing the animal's remains to see if its aggressive behavior was caused by some kind of viral disease.) That said, New England's bobcat population has been rising rapidly for a number of years, especially in New Hampshire and Massachusetts; the last time anyone checked, there were about 1,300 bobcats in Massachusetts alone, following decades of environmental protection.

News reports are focusing on the Germanwings pilot's possible depression, following a familiar script in the wake of mass killings. But the evidence shows violence is extremely rare among the mentally ill.